3. Odyssey (Greek Mythology)

Transcript

0:01

Welcome my spooky friends. Tends to mythos, according to yours, truly. I'm your host, Wendy. Tomorrow. Today. Our guest is back. Sally. I guess. Again, So today we are talking about. The Odyssey. This is a Greek mythology. I'm very excited to share it with you. Today, I'm also your. Your hosts, I'm reading the story. And I'm going. Gonna share any facts about it? Any questions you have, Sally? Just let. We know. Hey. Yeah. Good. On my podcast, we dive into myths. And folklore from all over the world. If you're. You hear the stories have shaped our cultures. Stirred imaginations and kept us captivated for centuries. Together, we'll explore the origins, meanings and mysteries behind these. These tills. With a fresh perspective and a little bit of fun. So grab your favorite drink and gather. Around our campfire for a tell you won't forget. After the bloody siege of Troy had finally come to an end, the Greek hero, Odysseus, king of Ithaca, yearned to return to his beloved homeland and reunite with his wife, Penelope, and his young son. Telemachus. Telemachus. Something like that. I think I'm just going to call him Telly from here on out. But fate, it seemed, had other plans. The Gods had more trials and tribulations in store for him, and what should have been quick voyage from home turned into an epic journey, one full of danger, temptation, and unforgettable encounters. As diocese and its men sailed across the vast and charted waters. One trial after another, each more perilous than the last. The Island of the Lotus Eaters. The first encounter was with the Island of the Lotus Eaters, a beautiful lush land where a, Where time seemed to stand still and all worries faded away. Upon landing, a few of Odax's men ate the lotus flowers offered by the island's inhabitants. Immediately, they fell into a spell, forgetting their desire to return home, and enchanted by the carefree life of the lotus eaters. Doesn't this sound so familiar? Like, again, Percy Jackson? Yeah, yeah it does. The lotus flowers? Yeah. Seeing his men longing and blessed full of love. Lipsing his men longing in blissful oblivion, Odysseus eyes narrowed with determination. He stood up to them, pulling them away from the flowers. Have you forgotten Ithaca? Have you forgotten Penelope and Telly? We must leave this place. With great effort, he dragged his dazed men back to the ship, ordering the crew to set sail before the allure of the lotus could claim them all. The Cyclops, Polly, or Pollyphemus. Soon, the crew found themselves on the shores of another island. Here they discovered a massive cave filled with food, wine, and livestock. The men feasted unaware that the caves belonged to a monstrous cyclops named Polly, a son of Poseidon, as they enjoyed the bounty the cyclops returned blocking the cave's entrance with a huge boulder. Who dares feast on my food, roared Polly, his single eye glaring down at the intruders. Odysseus, ever quick, waited to step forward. My name is nobody, he said with a sly smile. We are weary travelers seeking our hospitality. Pollyphemus scoffed and without warning grabbed two of Odysseus men, devouring them whole. The men gasped in horror, but Odysseus, resolve motioned for them to stay calm. He cast a plan and offered the Cyclops a jug of wine, unaware it was laced with a potent sedative. As the Cyclops grew drowsy, he mumbled, Tell me your name, stranger, so I may thank you properly. Odysseus replied, I already told you, my name is Nobody. Once the Cyclops fell asleep, Odysseus and his men took a sharp stake they had prepared, He did it in the fire and plunged it into Polly's single eye. The cyclops roared in pain, thrashing about, when the other cyclops on the island heard his cries and came to help. Polly could only scream, nobody's attacking me, believing it to be a false alarm the other cyclops left him in agony. The next morning, Odysseus and his men escaped by clinging to the underside of Polly's sheeps. As they left the cave, outsmarting the blinded Cyclops and making their way to the ship. But, as they sailed away, Odysseus's pride got the better of him. I'm Odysseus, the one who blinded you, he called out, taunting the enraged Polly. I was gonna say his whole name, and then I was like, no, Polly is better. In his fury, Polly called upon his father, Poseidon, to curse Odysseus. May he never reach home. And with that, the god of the sea vowed to make Odysseus journey as difficult as possible. The Enchantment of Cirque The Enchantment of Cirque further along their journey, the crew encountered the mysterious island, Aiea, Aiea, home to the beautiful but dangerous sorceress, Cirque. She welcomed Odysseus men with opened arms and invited them to feast, offering them food and wine, laced with a powerful potion. As they ate, they began to transform, growing snouts, tails, and hooves. They were turning into swine. Only one man, who had stayed behind, escaped and ran to tell Odysseus. Determined to save his men, Odysseus ventured to Circe's place, Along the way, he was met with Hermes, the messenger god, who handed him a magical herb called Molly. Called Molly? Called Molly! A magical herb called Molly! What? Interesting. Isn't it? That's what I was thinking. Okay. Yeah. I don't know what Hermes is doing with Molly handing it out so freely like that. Hmm. Interesting. Right. Interesting. I know. Well eat this. Herb ois Hermes advised it'll protect you from Ci Circ Magic. I guess we just have to eat Molly out. I know. Because it's going to protect us from Circus magic. Yeah. Isn't that wild? Yeah, that is wild. Whoa. Literally. Literally. What? Okay, let's do it. What happens next though? The herbs protection approached Circ who offered him the enchanted wine when the spell failed to work on him. Circ was both furious and amazed. How can you resist my magic? She demanded Odessa stared at her with an unwavering gaze, released my men from your spell or Suffer the wrath. Ofa King. Impressed by his bravery, Sirks agreed to return the men back into their human form, and even offered to help Odysseus for a year. Odysseus and his men rested, and aye aye, learning from Sirk, and regaining their strength, but eventually, he reminded his crew of their true purpose, to return home to Ithaca. The deadly siren and the skylight and charidis. Following Cirque's advice, Odysseus next had to sail past the sirens. These Creatures with enchanting voices that lured sailors to their deaths to prevent his men from succumbing to the siren's call, Odysseus filled their ears with beeswax. He, however, wished to hear the song, so he ordered his men to tie him to the mast of the ship, to ignore his commands until they had passed. As they sailed close, the siren began their song, a haunting, irresistible melody. Odysseus, come to us, they sang, their voices sweet and alluring. The hero strained against his bonds, begging his men to release him. But they rode on, determined to see him safely past. When the last notes of the siren's song faded away, Odysseus slumped against the mast, his heart heavy with relief and awe. not long after they faced the deadly passage of Scylla and Charidas, A six headed monster on one side and a whirlpool on the other, with no safe way through, Odysseus made the difficult decision to steer close to Scylla, sacrificing a few of his men rather than risking the entire ship to Sheredith's Pained him deeply, he watched as Silas snatched a sixth of his best men, their screams echoing across the waters as the ship finally sailed through, The Island of the Sun God. After many more trials, Odysseus and his men landed on the island of Helios, the sun god. Here, they were warned not to touch the sacred cattle. But while Odysseus slept, his starving men, led by his second in command, slaughtered and ate some of the cattle. When Helios discovered the transgression, he demanded justice from Zeus. The god of the skies struck their ship with a bolt of lightning as they departed, killing all of Odysseus's men. Only Odysseus survived, clinging to the piece of draughtwood as the storm carried him away, the return to Ithaca. After ten long years at sea, Odysseus finally washed ashore in Ithaca. He made his way to his palace, where he found Penelope still waiting. Warding off a crowd of suitors who sought her hand. With the help of his son, Telli, Odysseus devised a plan to reveal himself. As he revealed his true identity, Penelope, her heart filled with both disbelief and joy embraced him. It is true. It is truly you. Is it truly you. Ois, she whispered. It is my love. I have come home. Finally, after years of struggle, ODACS journey was over. He had proven that his strength and courage could withstand any hardship and his wisdom had grown along the way. That's the end of that story. That was a longer story, but it was good. No, I was super good. Yeah. I liked it. I like the thing is, the Odyssey is a whole book and you can find all of it and with every detail. So that's awesome. I know. This was just like. The summarized version of it. And to note So today's scripture is James 1 12. It says blessed is the man that endures temptation For when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him Me too, right? That's that's a pretty good scripture. I think The thing is with Odysseus I feel like Sometimes he just makes like the dumbest Choices like deciding to be tied up on the stretch instead of Plugging his ears with the beeswax I think that was a very personal decision and also Because that like could have killed him if his mind didn't listen, you know and then like at the end well at the beginning with polly where he Yelled his name and was like, oh my name's odysseus blah blah blah. That was also like you waited so long to not Share your name, but then you gave it away. You did at the last minute and that ruined everything. Yeah, because of, like, pride, right? Yeah. So, I To me, like, temptation is pride. Right. You know, like, when we get into temptation Do you have any experiences in your life where you feel like you've been tried with temptation and been able to overcome that? Yeah, there's been a lot of times in my life where I've been tempted. There's been a lot of times in my life where I've been tempted and I caved or I gave in to temptation. I've realized that no matter how hard you're tried, it's really important that you just, you keep strong, and there's always that light at the end of the tunnel. Like you're gonna be okay, just stay strong as long as you can, and just like how it says in the scripture, when we're tried, we'll receive the crown of life, so we'll be rewarded when we're tried, and we stay strong, and we To the end, right? Like if, if Odysseus stayed strong like throughout that whole time and didn't share his name just right at the end when they were just leaving the island if he would've just not shared his name, they would've been fine. They spent like ten years. Ten years. Traveling back. That's crazy to me. At least he made it back. Cause I think that's like, what's admirable about that is that obviously he had nothing else to do. If he wanted to find meaning in life, it would be going back home. And that's where, you know, meaning was home. And he like almost forfeited that when he like gave out his name. Um, And then also because of pride and because of that temptation to like, do what he wanted when he wanted, how he wanted. Cause I think sometimes that perspective, um, I have that perspective sometimes. And I think that like, I can just do what I want when I want, how I want. But then if I do that, then like I won't accomplish the goals. I have and I won't find home if that makes sense. I think that's what's like cool about it is that like he had value in his, his family and he had value in the connections he had and that was his home, which I'm like thinking about like, what is my home? Like, what is our home? What do you choose to make home? And like, Are you focusing your efforts on that, or are you just doing whatever you want, how you want, right now? It reminds me of, um Sorry. Are you a little sick? Just had a little tickle in my throat. Dang, from all the laughing we've been doing. Yeah. But, it reminds me of the, uh, parts in the Bible and the scriptures where it talks about, um, Who said this? Um, live now, live and be merry, for tomorrow we die, or whatever. Who said that in the bible? Do you remember? I don't remember, but that actually might be like in the Sermon on the Mount, I think. But, I do know what you're talking about, eat, drink. Eat, drink and be merry. Oh yeah, I think you're right. For tomorrow we die. For tomorrow we die. And that mentality is what, like. It holds us back and home might not, home might look different for everybody, but I think when we take the value out of, like, ourselves, the selfishness out of ourselves and think about other people and have their joy and happiness drive our decisions, not like people pleasing, definitely different than that, but more like. Wanting to be happy with the family you have, like wanting that connection is so important. And like, he loved his wife and his wife was loyal. So, that was truth, like, home was truth to him. Live now, for tomorrow we die is not true. That is deception. Yeah, it's so true. Another thing that I noticed with this story is, if he wouldn't have given into temptation, he would have had a journey that would have been a lot less difficult. Yeah. And a lot less long as well. So it makes me think in our own lives, like if we don't cave into temptation, it's going to be a lot more easier for us to make it home. But also gives you hope too. Cause even if you do cave into temptation, just like Audius, Odysseus. Wow. I love that. You don't, I literally cannot say. No, but he. He still made it home, even though he did cave into temptation. He still made it home. So those of us who do cave into temptation, we still have the hope of making it home. Yeah. No matter how long the journey is. I love that. All right guys, thank you so much for joining in on today's mythos. See you next time. My spooky friends.